


Thorns Upon Roses

by WeAreTheNight



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: AU Vegeta is disfigured, Abusive Relationship, Fusion, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, Please let me know if this needs more tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28520502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeAreTheNight/pseuds/WeAreTheNight
Relationships: Goku Black/Vegeta, Son Goku/Vegeta (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	Thorns Upon Roses

Goku scowled deeply as a familiar figure landed gracefully before him- and it was himself. "Black!? How are you back here?" He waited a moment. "How did you come back to life?"

"Oh," his double laughed. "I guess I've been here before! Oy, Vegeta! We've got company!" Black yelled over his shoulder.

"Huh?" the two Saiyans said as one. Vegeta stepped closer to Goku. "He brought the Vegeta of his Universe with him? Kakarrot, I don't like this..."

Another Vegeta showed up alright... But his face was mutilated nearly beyond recognition. Goku and Vegeta cried out, stumbling back. Black laughed at their reaction and hugged his Vegeta, pressing a long kiss to his forehead. "Hello, beautiful," he crooned.

"What... What happened to him!?" Goku choked out.

"It was... an accident," Black replied, stroking Vegeta's hair. "My beautiful Prince gave us immortality."

Vegeta stared at his double, who gazed back proudly. "How did... Those scars..." he whispered.

Black laughed wickedly, and he didn't see the shock and hurt on his lover's face when he sneered, "He's hideous, I know. But I love him for his mind. Your geniuses look like children when compared to _my_ Vegeta! He sacrificed his physical beauty to give us our immortality. In that moment, he became more beautiful than he had ever been."

He did not see the tears sparkling in Vegeta's eyes, nor did he feel the rigid set of his shoulders.

"You're crazy!" Goku cried angrily. "How could you let him do something that might have killed him!? What kind of monster are you!?" Vegeta saw tears in _Goku's_ eyes.

Black snorted and gently moved Vegeta aside. "I'll be back, love," he growled, then shot forward with a roar.

Goku shouted, "Vegeta, stay here!" He attacked Black with a ferocity Vegeta had only seen a few times.

The two Vegeta's were left staring at each other, hair blowing in the wind caused by their lovers' battle. The scarred Vegeta laughed breathily. "Your Kakarrot seems... nice."

"I wish I could say the same about yours." Vegeta just couldn't tear his eyes away from the horrible scarring on the other's face. "Do you love him?"

"I did." He gazed after Black. "He always insisted that I was still beautiful. That the scars did nothing to diminish my appearance." Vegeta chuckled bitterly. "I never thought he'd lie to my face. He only really keeps me around because I'm smart. He likely would have killed me if I..." He closed his eyes. "Black made me _feel_ beautiful, even when I knew that I'd lost that. He wouldn't allow me to look at any reflective surfaces. I don't even know how bad it is, but I guess it's even worse than I thought."

Vegeta was speechless. If anything like that had happened to him, he knew for a fact that Goku would never lie to him. He wouldn't hide it from him. He would still love Vegeta for everything about him... and he'd even love the scars, over time. "I have an idea," he whispered, so softly that he was surprised the other heard. "You don't have to deal with Black anymore. Do you... Do you know of Fusion?"

Vegeta's eyes lit up. "Of course," he murmured, clenching his fists. "Your appearance and my intelligence... and your Kakarrot."

Vegeta nodded. "Yes. You are me, after all." He smiled. "I guess I'm willing to do such a thing."

They approached each other. Black's Vegeta hesitated, then reached out and touched Vegeta's face. "How bad is it?" he whispered, grazing his fingers along Vegeta's cheek. "Do I even still look like me?"

It would be useless to lie. "Not really," he replied softly. "I didn't recognize you for a moment."

Vegeta nodded. "I just... I just wanted to know. Thank you for this. I have Potara earrings. I stole them from Black." He reached into his pocket and brought them out. He handed one to Vegeta, putting his on. "Hurry. Black will try to stop us if he-"

"Vegeta!" they heard, and it was definitely not Goku.

Vegeta hastily put on the earring. An angry scream rang out over the wasteland. He felt himself get sucked towards his clone and he closed his eyes when he heard another shocked cry. _I'm so sorry, Kakarrot,_ he whispered to his mate. _It's right._

The resulting Fusion made both Black and Goku halt. It was still Vegeta, but there was not a single scar on his face- except for one running delicately over the bridge of his nose. He chuckled, and it wasn't a layered voice like normal. It was just... Vegeta.

Black now seemed afraid. "Vegeta... Wait."

The Fusion hissed and moved forward with long strides.

Black stumbled away. "V-Vegeta! No, wait, please! I love you!"

Vegeta laughed, and Goku thought it sounded almost crazy. "You love me? You lied to my face for decades! 'Oh, you're beautiful, Vegeta', 'You don't look different at all to me', 'This changes nothing, beautiful'. You..." He laughed again, softer this time. "I don't even have words to say to you." He charged a powerful attack and fired it directly at Goku's clone. Black screamed and tried to block, but the rage behind it shattered his defenses entirely and obliterated him.

When Goku saw the blast coming, he turned and flew away as fast as he could. Even with the distance he put between them, the aftershock of the blow sent him crashing to the ground. He lay there for several minutes, ears ringing and heart pounding. Goku groaned and got to his feet. He began to trip back, and when he arrived, he found a crater and Vegeta on his knees crying. Goku dropped beside him and wrapped his arms around the sobbing Prince. "Shh, it's ok, Vegeta," he whispered. "It's gonna be ok."

"K _-Kakarrot_ _,_ " Vegeta choked, and Goku knew that it wasn't for him. He looked up, breathing deeply to suppress his tears. Vegeta had just killed his lover. It didn't matter what he'd gone through during his many years with him, the love was obviously still there. So he just held Vegeta and let him cry.


End file.
